Cableway System with Station for Storing Transportation Devices

ABSTRACT

An aerial cableway installation includes transportation devices, such as gondolas or chairs, that can be coupled to the cable and decoupled from the cable in stations of the installation. Guide devices are disposed in the region of the stations on which the decoupled transportation devices can be moved beside the cable. A drive device drives the transportation devices along the guide devices. The drive device can be temporarily deactivated at least in sections so that in this region transportation devices can be stored when the aerial cableway installation is not operating. In order to simplify storage of the transportation devices, and to simplify renewed circulation of the transportation devices, there is provided at least one conveyor device, which at least in some regions is arranged to be parallel beside the transport device, and which can be made to engage and disengage the transportation devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority, under 35 U.S.C. § 119, of Austrianpatent application A 1965/2006, filed Nov. 27, 2006; the priorapplication is herewith incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to an aerial cableway system with a hauling cableextending between at least two stations. Transportation devices, such asgondolas or lift chairs, can be coupled to and decoupled from thehaulage cable in the stations. Guide devices are disposed in thestations along which the decoupled transportation devices are movedbeside the cable. A drive device drives the transportation devices alongthe guides. The drive device can be temporarily deactivated at least insections.

European patent application EP 0 774 392 describes using the spaceavailable in a station building, more precisely those guide devicesalong which during normal operation the transportation devices areguided around the deflection pulley in a station, for storingtransportation devices when the aerial cableway is not in operation. Inthis context, EP 0 774 392 A describes various options for adapting thedrive of the transport device such that the acceleration wheels,deceleration wheels and/or the conveyor wheels that are situated inbetween can be disengaged from the transportation devices. However,there is a problem in that there is then no drive available for thetransportation devices parked in this region, which drive would movesaid transportation devices to a region in which non-deactivated wheelswould take over the further drive when the aerial cableway resumesoperation. Therefore this has to be carried out manually by operatingpersonnel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an aerialcableway installation, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantagesof the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type andwhich allows the sliding of the transportation devices to be carried outmechanically or in an automated manner.

With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, inaccordance with the invention, an aerial cableway installation withstations and a hauling cable extending between the stations, comprising:

transportation devices (e.g., gondolas and chairs) to be coupled to anddecoupled from the hauling cable in the stations;

guide devices in the stations configured to guide said transportationdevices, after decoupling from the cable, through the stations;

a drive device configured to drive said transportation devices alongsaid guide devices, said drive device being at least temporarilydeactivatable in sections thereof; and

at least one conveyor device disposed, in some regions, parallel besidesaid drive device and configured to selectively engage and disengagesaid transportation devices.

According to the invention, in a generic cableway installation thisobject is met in that at least one conveyor device is provided, which atleast in some regions is arranged so as to be parallel beside thetransport device, and which can be made to engage and disengage thetransportation devices.

As is known per se from the above-noted EP 0 774 392 A, in theinvention, too, some of the wheels, namely the acceleration wheels,deceleration wheels and/or the conveyor wheels located in between, aredeactivated because these wheels, more specifically their drive, is notsuitable for driving the transportation devices so that the latter canbe parked under cover close together in the station. In order to relievethe operating personnel from this manual work that would otherwise haveto be carried out, according to the invention an additional conveyordevice is provided in that region or regions in which the wheels aredeactivated. The conveyor device carries out this transport.

This conveyor device is arranged so as to be parallel beside the actualtransport device and in a preferred embodiment is characterized in thatthe conveyor device is a conveyor element, for example a conveyor belt,chain block or the like, which moves endlessly around two deflectionrollers. Furthermore, it is preferred if the conveyor element comprisesat least one catch that projects from the conveyor element and can bemade to engage the transportation devices. By way of the catch, eachtransportation devices can be pushed into the desired position in aregion in which transport device is deactivated.

The longitudinal extension of the conveyor device, at least in itseffective region, approximately corresponds to the length in which thetransport device can be deactivated. In this way the entire region inwhich the transport device is deactivated can be reached by the conveyordevice, and in this way the transportation devices can easily be slidalong this entire region.

As is known per se from EP 0 774 392 A, the transport device cancomprise wheels can be moved out of their transport position. This isproven method, which can be implemented in a simple manner from a designpoint of view, of deactivating the wheels of the transport device.

As an alternative, the invention can also provide for transport deviceto comprise wheels or groups of that can be decoupled from their drive.Thus the drive of the wheels or of the group of wheels would continue tooperate and would continue to be to other wheels or of the group ofwheels would continue to operate and would continue to be available toother wheels or other groups of wheels that at a given time should notor need not be deactivated.

As an alternative or in addition it is also possible for the transportdevice to comprise wheels that are taken together to form groups whosedrive can be deactivated. This embodiment is simpler when compared toabove-mentioned embodiment in that the drive only has to be switched onand off, and in that there is no need to provide additional couplingsfor coupling and decoupling the wheels or groups of wheels.

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the inventionare set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodiedin a cableway system, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited tothe details shown, since various modifications and structural changesmay be made therein without departing from the spirit of the inventionand within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

The construction and method of operation of the invention, however,together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be bestunderstood from the following description of specific embodiments whenread in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 shows a side view of an exemplary embodiment of a station of theaerial cableway installation according to the invention in normaloperation;

FIG. 2 shows a top view of the station of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows lateral view of the station of FIGS. 1 and 2, with gondolasparked under cover;

FIG. 4 shows a top view of the station shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a lateral view of an alternative for deactivating thewheels of the transport device;

FIG. 6 shows a top view of the station shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 shows a view that corresponds to the view according to FIG. 6,with a maximum number of gondolas parked under cover; and

FIG. 8 shows a section view of a detail of the station of the aerialcableway installation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first,particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a guide rail 1 alongwhich gondolas 2 that have been decoupled from the hauling cable can bemoved by sliding through a station 3 of an aerial cableway installation.The gondolas 2 are driven by way of three groups of wheels, in specificterms by way of a group of deceleration wheels 4, a group of conveyorwheels 5 and a group of acceleration wheels 6. After they have beendecoupled from the hauling cable, the gondolas 2 are decelerated by thedeceleration wheels 4 to a speed at which passengers can convenientlyleave and enter the gondolas 2. This takes place in that region in whichthe gondolas 2 are conveyed onward at constant slow speed by theconveyor wheels 5. Subsequently the gondolas 2 are accelerated by theacceleration wheels 6 to a speed that corresponds to the speed of thehauling cable, after which the gondolas 2 are once more coupled to thehauling cable.

In order to store or park, under cover, transportation devices, such asthe afore-mentioned gondolas, some of the acceleration-and decelerationwheels 4, 6 can be deactivated, i.e. they do not exert any accelerationand deceleration forces onto the gondolas 2. As described in EP 0 774392 A this can, for example take place in that the acceleration anddeceleration wheels 4, 6 can be moved out of their transport position sothat the gondolas 2 located in this region are not driven by thesewheels. This variant is diagrammatically shown in FIG. 5.

In another embodiment, which is shown in FIG. 3, some of thedeceleration wheels 4 or some of the acceleration wheels 6 are decoupledfrom the drive. If the deceleration wheels 4 and the acceleration wheels6 are driven so that one wheel always drives the next wheel at asomewhat lower or higher transmission ratio, then it is sufficient todecouple the drive of one wheel to the next wheel so that all thesubsequent wheels of the associated group are also no longer driven bydeceleration wheels 4 or acceleration wheels 6. In the case shown inFIG. 3, it is the deceleration wheel 4 a which is decoupled from thedeceleration wheel 4 located to its left, so that all the decelerationwheels 4 up to the deceleration wheel 4 b are without drive. After thewheel 4 b there follows the group with the conveyor wheels 5, whichgroup is driven separately. Decoupling the drive of some of theacceleration wheels 6 takes place analogously.

In this region, in which the deceleration 4 and acceleration wheels 6deactivated, it is now possible to park transportation devices 2 undercover. For this to be able to be carried out mechanically, in theseregions additional conveyor devices 7, 7′ are provided which at least insome regions are arranged so as to be parallel beside the respectiveregion. In the exemplary embodiment shown in the drawings, the conveyordevices 7, 7′ comprise a chain 10 or 10′ that endlessly moves around twodeflection wheels 8, 9 or 8′, 9′, to which chain 10 or 10′ a conveyorelement 11, 11′ in the form of a pin-shaped catch is attached. One ofthe two deflection wheels 8, 9 or 8′, 9′ of each conveyor device 7, 7′is driven so that the catches 11, 11′ on the one hand can be moved tothe side of the conveyor devices 7, 7′, which side is shown FIG. 2, inwhich said catches 11, 11′ are positioned on the side facing away fromthe guide rail 1 and are disengaged from the gondolas 2; and on theother hand can be moved to the other, opposite side, in which saidcatches 11, 11′ are located on the side facing the guide rail 1, inwhich they take over the transport of the gondolas 2 with the rollers 6deactivated.

The sequence of a storing process of gondolas 2 takes place, startingwith the initial situation shown in FIG. 1, which situation correspondsto normal aerial cableway operation, in which movement of the gondolasthrough the station 3 takes place clockwise, for example such that theaerial cableway is first stopped. Then the deceleration wheels 4 betweenthe two wheels 4 a and 4 b are deactivated and the aerial cableway isdriven in the opposite direction of movement. The wheels 6, which duringnormal operation are used as acceleration wheels, now act asdeceleration wheels. As soon as a gondola 2 is located in the region ofthe storage track between the wheels 4 a and 4 b, the drive of theconveyor device 7 is switched on so that the catch 11, starting from thehome position shown in FIG. 1, moves clockwise around the deflectionroller 9 until it rests against the gondola 2 and takes the latter alonguntil it is located at the end of the storage track at the wheel 4 a.During this time the aerial cableway is stopped or operated at speed.Subsequently the drive of the conveyor device 7 is switched over and thecatch 11 moves back to its home position. Now conveyor wheels 5 move thenext gondola to the beginning of the storage track at wheel 4 b, fromwhere the catch 11 pushes said gondola directly behind the gondola thathas already been parked under cover. This is repeated (in FIGS. 3 and 4the third gondola 2 is pushed onto the storage track, with said gondola2 in 6 being in its final storage position) until the entire storagetrack in the region of the deceleration 4 is filled with gondolas.

After this is finished, the acceleration 6, too, are deactivated so thatin this region too, gondolas can be stored under cover in that, startingat the right-hand end of this storage track beside the conveyor wheels5, one gondola 2 after the other is parked under cover by means of thecatch 11′.

For renewed circulation of the gondolas 2 the catch 11′ is placed fromthe right-hand side to the outermost right-hand gondola, with said catch11 ′ then slowly pushing the gondolas to the left so that the gondolas2, one after the other, reach the region of non-deactivated accelerationwheels 6 and are dispatched. The catch 11′ is then moved back to thehome position shown in FIG. 2. Thereafter, all the acceleration wheels 6are activated again and the gondolas 2 on the storage track in theregion of the deactivated deceleration wheels 4 are put back intooperation, one after the other, in that the catch 11 is placed fromleft-hand side to the outermost left gondola 2 so that it pushes all thestored gondolas, step-by-step, towards the right-hand side until saidgondolas establish contact with the conveyor wheels 5 and aredispatched.

After all the gondolas 2 from this storage track have been dispatched,the catch 11 returns to its home position shown in FIG. 2, and all thedeceleration wheels 4 are again activated for normal aerial cablewayoperation.

FIG. 8 shows in more detail the components of transportation devices 2,of the conveyor device 7 and of the transport device, which arenecessary to provide an understanding of this invention. A suspensionbar 12 of the transportation devices 2 is shown, which suspension bar12, by way of a coupling device 13, can be coupled to the suspension-andhauling cable of the aerial cableway installation. The coupling devicealso comprises pulleys 14, 15 that run on the stationary rails 1, 16.Furthermore, the coupling device comprises a drive face 17, onto which,the wheels of the transport device, for example the wheel 4 shown inFIG. 8, are applied. The wheels 4, 5, 6 are driven by means of pulleys18 arranged in pairs. If the rotary speed of adjacent wheels is to bethe same as that of the conveyor wheels 5, the diameter of the twopulleys is the same. If the rotary speed of adjacent wheels is to bedifferent, as is the case with the deceleration wheels 4 and 6, then thediameter of the pulleys is also different, as shown in FIG. 8.

The wheels 4, 5, 6 are held on stationary frame 19, to which,furthermore, the conveyor device 7, 7′ according to according to theinvention is also affixed. FIG. 8 shows a guide 20 of the conveyordevice 7, in which guide the chain 10 is guided. Furthermore, the catch11 is shown, which in the right-hand position in solid lines is justapplied to the suspension bar 12, wherein the catch 11 is shown indashed lines in the left-hand position, which is he home position.

1. An aerial cableway installation with stations and a hauling cableextending between the stations, comprising: transportation devices to becoupled to and decoupled from the hauling cable in the stations; guidedevices in the stations configured to guide said transportation devices,after decoupling from the cable, through the stations; a drive deviceconfigured to drive said transportation devices along said guidedevices, said drive device being at least temporarily deactivatable insections thereof; and at least one conveyor device disposed, in someregions, parallel beside said drive device and configured to selectivelyengage and disengage said transportation devices.
 2. The aerial cablewayinstallation according to claim 1, wherein said transportation devicesare selected from the group consisting of gondolas and chairs.
 3. Theaerial cableway installation according to claim 1, wherein said conveyordevice is a conveyor element endlessly moving about at least twodeflection rollers.
 4. The aerial cableway installation according toclaim 1, wherein said conveyor element is a conveyor belt or a chain. 5.The aerial cableway installation according to claim 3, wherein saidconveyor element comprises at least one catch projecting from saidconveyor element and configured for engagement with said transportationdevices.
 6. The aerial cableway installation according to claim 1,wherein said conveyor device has a longitudinal extension approximatelycorresponding to a length in which said drive device can be deactivated.7. The aerial cableway installation according to claim 1, wherein saiddrive device comprises wheels disposed to be moved into and away from atransport position.
 8. The aerial cableway installation according toclaim 1, wherein said drive device comprises wheels or groups of wheelsdisposed to be decoupled from a drive thereof.
 9. The aerial cablewayinstallation according to claim 1, wherein said drive device compriseswheels that are taken together to form groups whose drive can bedeactivated.